Unfortunately the loud, throat-hurting efforts of the travelling hordes, wallets no doubt eased in the pubs/supermarkets by our club putting on free travel and Saff Saracens offering tickets for a fiver, were not rewarded on the pitch as a bright start was trumped by numerous errors and Glenda Jackson's kicking.

For the second week in a row the boot was mightier than the hand as the Falcons and Sarries were tied on two tries apiece, but the scoreline did not flatter the hosts.

Those of us with black hearts did not wait for kick-off to loosen the vocal chords, giving a rendition of the Blaydon Races in the pub in response to the Dutch national anthem (I think), and cheering our team during the warm-up.

And Newcastle started the brighter with some aggressive play, and Tom May kicked over an early penalty. Saracens eventually got into their stride and Jackson knocked over two penalties before Cencus Johnson's opening try from a lineout.

According to the Slack man who saw it on the TV downstairs, Steve Borthwick took out Matt Thompson to allow the score, but it mattered not and Jackson converted.

Brad Barritt then picked up a loose ball just in front of the posts following Jackson's knock through and dived over, no defenders having been quick enough to clear up. The easy conversion put us down by 17, and by half-time the deficit was 20 thanks to a Jackson drop-goal.

Some strange decisions by the Italian referee, such as giving Saracens advantage for what I considered a deliberate knock-on before giving us a penalty, and others even stranger to Sarries, couldn't mask the fact that we had kicked poorly, and only had a couple of dangerous attacks.

Our most promising came from a break from Tane Tu'ipulotu, but ended with a knock-on from Carl Hayman.

The second half saw us in the stands re-discover our voices, and we did have some decent spells of possession in the home 22, but individual errors, in particular dropping the ball a few times, aided the strong Saracens defence in keeping us out.

A raft of replacements were made as Steve Bates tried to get us back into the game, and from a crazy-looking crossfield kick by May, Danny Williams was just able to touch down on his first appearance back from injury.

The same move was attempted at Northampton of course, I thought it was crazy then too but it also worked. Shows what I know.

May's touchline conversion missed, unfortunately around the score Jackson was successful with three penalties and the game was pretty much lost going into the last 20 minutes as I for one couldn't see us scoring the points we needed, with for one thing Rob Vickers' introduction having done nothing to improve our inconsistent lineout.

Phil Dowson managed a further consolation score in the dying minutes, but a Saracens knock-on ended the game and sent them through to a semi-final at Northampton in May.

So that's it for our chances of silverware this season. Seventh place in the Premiership now carries a Heineken Cup place with Cardiff having beaten Toulouse yesterday, but with four teams going for that spot and our last two games being very difficult, it's hard to see us getting up there.

So it's back to Brive and Valladolid next year I suppose. I know Dave Thompson says next year is too soon for us to be in the Heineken, but I for one am sick of us being in this competition – I want us to be playing Munster, Toulouse, Stade etc., and not just next year but regularly.

Maybe it will happen one day, but not right now I guess. Not until we get some consistency, create (and finish) more chances and stop kicking directly to the winger and inviting him to run straight back at us.

If The Master had earned a second honeymoon period, I'd suggest it is approaching an end after the first half at Wasps and today. We need to see signs that this is the blip, not February and March when we did so well. Two more games to find out.

But it's not all bad.  Thanks to everyone who contributed to a great atmosphere today, off the pitch at least it was another top away trip.

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